GIFEC extends digital skills training to visually impaired persons 

More than 450 visually impaired persons across 13 regions in the country are undergoing a three-week training on basic computer usage for their personal, social and economic development.

The training forms part of the Ghana Investment Fund for Electronic Communication’s (GIFEC) efforts to expose the beneficiaries to digital skills. 

Dubbed: “Introduction to computer basics for the visually impaired (ICBVI),” the project, which began in November 2023, with a training of trainers, is being implemented in collaboration with the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and Cisco, with funding from the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) and GIFEC. 

It forms part of a broader goal of building an inclusive digital society to foster participation in the digital economy while building a digitally literate citizenry to boost their ICT capabilities. 

Visit 

The Chief Executive Officer of GIFEC, Prince Ofosu Sefah, paid a working visit to some of the beneficiaries in the Central Region last Wednesday to assess the progress of the training.

At the Cape Coast School for the Deaf and Blind, the participants were being taught how to type using voice assistant features on the laptop.  

Mr Sefah said: “It is not only about seeing some of them and showing them kindness in one fashion or the other but for me, giving them tools so that these people become more independent to do more for themselves and rely less on other people to enable them to have a fulfilling life is what matters.”

He added that the capacity-building programme had been designed to ensure that beyond extending the knowledge to such persons living in unserved and underserved communities, they could leverage the skills to become independent. 

Consequently, Mr Sefah urged the beneficiaries to leverage the opportunities presented by the training to transform their lives and survive in the ever-changing digital economy. 

UCC 

The GIFEC delegation made a stop at the University of Cape Coast’s Resource Centre for Alternative Media and Assistive Technology, where they donated equipment six years ago to support the centre. 

The Patron at the centre, Kwame Boohene, said some of the equipment, which included laptops, and headsets to aid teaching and learning were faulty.

He, therefore, appealed to GIFEC to support the centre with more equipment such as daisy book readers, digital recorders, reading glasses, headsets and ergonomic keyboards, among others.